Sweep of the Heart (Innkeeper Chronicles #5)(93)

“Harm doesn’t have to be physical. It can also be emotional.”

“Dushegubs don’t have emotions. Besides, I think this looks festive. Just view them as holiday decorations.”

“For which holiday?”

“Halloween. It’s only 3 months away.”

Ugh.

Something was happening by the driveway. Something involving raised voices. I concentrated. Marais, standing just inside the boundary. He wouldn’t have stepped on the inn’s grounds unless he wanted to alert us.

“This conversation isn’t over,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”

“No worries. They’re not going anywhere.”

I went out of the inn the old-fashioned way, through the front door and down the steps to the driveway. Beast followed me, ever so vigilant.

At the bottom of the driveway Marais stood next to his cruiser. A dark-haired plump woman faced him, her arms crossed over her chest. Her face was in profile, but there was no mistaking that body language.

“You lied to me.”

“I didn’t.” Marais didn’t sound convincing.

Uh-oh.

“You said you were going to work. I went by the station, Hector! They told me you were on vacation!”

She sounded really angry.

“I have a side hustle.”

Wrong choice of words.

“You have a side something, alright.”

“It’s a job, Donna.”

“You are a workaholic. In the past three years you took one vacation, and I had to twist your arm to do it. Do you expect me to believe that you voluntarily took vacation time to work another job?”

“As you said, a workaholic…”

“You are parked in front of someone’s house!” She shook her head. “Stop lying to me. How could you do this to me? To us, to our family?”

Marais held his hands up. “It’s not what you think.”

“I don’t know what to think anymore. I thought we were a team. I thought we talked to each other. It was us against the world. Now here you are sneaking around. Lying to me, to our kids, to your job. What happened to you?”

Hector’s marriage was exploding in slow motion in front of me. Someone had to throw themselves on that grenade, and Hector wasn’t going to do it, because deep inside he was still the Officer Marais who promised to keep our secret. He looked desperate.

I started down the driveway.

“I love you very much,” Mrs. Marais said. “But I can’t deal with cheating or lying. I won’t.”

“Donna, please…”

“You know what hurts the most? It’s not even the cheating itself. It’s that you were so unhappy that you looked for comfort with someone else, and I had no idea.” Her voice caught. “You didn’t trust me enough to let me know.”

There was so much hurt in her voice. Ouch.

Marais looked like he wanted to fall through the ground under his feet.

A green Honda passed by, the driver craning his neck to get a better look at what was happening. They were standing right next to Marais’ cruiser. People were conditioned to pay attention to police cars. It was a minor miracle that nobody from the subdivision across the street had shown up to watch the show and film all of this with cell phones. I had to get the two of them off the street.

“Enjoy your vacation. I hope it was worth it.”

“Mrs. Marais?” I called out. Beast danced by my feet, barking. She sensed two people being agitated and wasn’t sure if she was supposed to bite somebody.

The woman turned to me. Oh crap, crap, crap, crap.

“You!” the Costco lady squeaked.

I had the worst luck in the world.

Donna Marais pointed at me and strained. She must’ve had a lot of things to say all at once and they caused a traffic jam, because nothing came out. She just pointed with her mouth gaping.

Marais blinked, looking back and forth between us. “Do the two of you know each other?”

“It’s her!” Donna spat out. “I told you. The monster in Costco! That’s her. The woman that disappeared! Is that who you’re sleeping with? What the hell is going on?”

“We are not sleeping together. I hired your husband.”

Her face told me she did not believe a word I said. “Hired him to do what?”

There was no way around this. “Come inside, please.”

“I’m not going in your house! I’m going to stay right out here, and someone better explain things to me.”

Marais took her by the arm and said, “Trust me.”

“Let go of me, you bastard!” she growled.

I really felt for her, but if I tried to reassure her here, not only would she not believe me, but she could decide to leave. She came here ready to challenge Marais and the person she thought he was sleeping with. It was much better to be a little combative. She would follow me if she thought I would give her that confrontation.

“Would you rather go inside and find out exactly what is going on, or would you rather stay outside here and keep making a scene for the whole neighborhood?” I asked.

Like throwing gasoline on the fire. Mrs. Marais drew back and gave me an angry stare. “I don’t like you.”

“That’s fine, but I’m trying to explain things. After I’m done, I’ll give you a can of beans you can throw at me.”